National Dictionary Day

Evening everyone,
Twice in one day - I told you I was busy.  It's only a quick one though.

For those who didn't know it's National Dictionary Day today (I didn't know until I read Eileen's FB post this morning) 
I believe it's in honour of a gentleman called Noah Webster, an American lexicographer who was born on this day in 1758,  who later published the first Amercian dictionary.  (If you're interested there's more details here)

Seeing as I'm a member of the Altered Art Dictionary group on Facebook, and it's absolutely ages since I've touched my dictionary, I thought it was a good idea to dust it off and do a few pages, in honour of Mr Webster.
In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, the AAD is a group on Facebook, started by the lovely Eileen Godwin.
All you need is a dictionary, some stamps, and something to colour with.  You just choose a word, highlight it and decorate the page - simple.  It can become quite addictive, I just haven't had time to do any recently.  Until today that is. 

This is what I came up with ..........

PUMPKIN

BROOMSTICK

WITCH

FOLIAGE

If you're on Facebook, why not come and join in, it's fun!

Enjoy the rest of your evening.  See you again tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.

Linda

x

So far, so good..........

Morning eveyone,
How are you all doing?  
Here's my card for this weeks Less Is More Blog Challenge.  Yes, I know I'm usually posting this on a Friday afternoon with only hours to go before the deadline, but things are going ok in the the old craft room (touch wood).  I'm actually getting somewhere I think.   I've been so busy that I've missed the last two LIM challenges so I was determined to do this one.

It's Week 89 and its ...........  ONE LAYER WEEK  with the theme

WINGS

The girls have started us off with a list of things that qualify ....... insects, birds, aeroplanes. You could also add butterflies, fairies, angels.
Seeing as we're well into October, and not long to go until the 31st, I've gone for BATS! (and there's an owl on there too, he also has wings).

I'm afraid I'm getting in the mood for Halloween - MwahHahahahaha .........  I love it!  Even though the kids are all grown up I still have to carve a scary face into a pumpkin (not very well I might add).   It also means that the first pumpkin pie of the year will be going in the oven soon - yummeee!!
We've always celebrated Halloween.   When the kids were young the house was always decorated inside and out, with pumpkins and spooky stuff.  Now I just do pumpkin lights and lots of candles.  I still buy a mountain of sweets too, for all the Trick or Treaters.  But, enough of that for now, here's my card .....

I've used one of my latest purchases, one of  Chocolate Baroque's brand new sets of Clear stamps Witches Brew  

As  much as I love Halloween, I don't send Halloween cards, but I had to have these stamps.

The scene I've used on my card is just one stamp from the set, apart from the bats.  They're from a Penny Black "T for Transparent" set called 'Spooky'. 

I stamped the scene first in Black Archival ink, then used masks to ink the circle behind.  The moon was also masked while I did the sky, using Scattered Straw, Stormy Sky and Dusty Concord Distress Inks.
I then removed both the circle mask and the one covering the moon, and replaced them with one that covered the whole scene, except the moon (I think that makes sense).  This part was then coloured using Scattered Straw DI.

The bats were added once all the inking had been done, along with the word 'Spooky' which is from the same Penny Black clear set.  To finish it off I added a touch of sparkle to the moon.

There looks to be a lot on there, but it was so simple to do. And,  there's still plenty of white space, a must if you want to be a LIMette.

There's quite a bit of Halloween about in the land of Blog.  I'll be back tomorrow with my latest Twinches, they're Spooky themed too.

Enjoy your day. 
Thanks for popping by.

Linda

x 

Happy Monday!

Morning everyone,

Hope you all had a nice weekend, and are raring to go on another crafty week.  As usual, I've loads to be getting on with, and I really want to make a start on some Christmas cards this week.
I was in town at the weekend and the shops are already starting to look that little bit festive - it's a bit early for me to be honest, we haven't had Halloween yet!
I must confess however,  I did look at a some Christmas card designs, just for inspiration.  They've given me a few ideas so hopefully I'll get some time later in the week to make a start.  I'll keep you posted.

I didn't spend as much time in the old craft room as I'd planned for this weekend, but I did manage some.  I had a play with my new Dylusions Inks that Lauren brought over for me.  It got a bit messy in there I can tell you.  But, I've got some lovely backgrounds ready to use.

Speaking of which, I used one on my In the Pink entry for their latest Blog Challenge. I thought I'd try the pink one first, it's such a fab colour.  In fact all 12 are simply stunning.  That had always been my problem, which ones do I go for first, so in the end I just got the lot! It had to be done!
I'd better get a move on as I'm just in the nick of time for this challenge, thank goodness.  Well, I couldn't miss doing this one could I,  seeing as I was one of the Perfect Pinkies in the last challenge.

Our recipe this time is ........ PINK PLUS ONE.
We have to use loads of Pink in our designs, plus one other colour.
I went for the PINK and BLACK combination - always very girlie I think.

Pink plus one - Black

The chandelier stamp is from Stamp Addicts and is a gorgeous large solid image.  I stamped it using Onyx Black Versafine and then quickly sprinkled it with a sparkly black embossing powder to make a real statement.  You can just about see the sparkle in the picture.
The white card was then cut to size and inked with Spun Sugar Distress Ink quite close to the stamped image.  The edges were then inked again using Picked Raspberry DI to give a little shading.
The pink background was created with Dylusions Bubblegum Pink spray ink sprayed onto a piece of white card that had already been spritzed with water.  Perfect Pearls was then spritzed over the top and a piece of
cling film scrunched over the whole thing, and left overnight to dry.
When you remove the cling film, all the mica from the Perfect Pearls has settled in the creases giving a lovely pearl effect to the card - really pretty.

All the stamping was done in Black Versafine, the flourish is from Baroque Motifs, a Stampin Up! set, and the word 'Dream' is from a Kaisercraft Clear stamp set.
Just to give it an even more feminine look I added some gorgeous paper roses and a piece of gathered black tulle.
There may be a few different shades of pink, but I think I've kept to the Pink Plus One rule, what do you think?

I suppose I'd better get back to the old craft room.  I'm determined to get loads done this week.

Thanks for popping by today.  And Thank You all for your lovely comments last week, you really make me smile. xx

See you soon

Linda

x

Friday again

Hi folks,

How is everyone this Friday afternoon?
Welcome to my latest followers, I really appreciate you taking the time to join me on my crafty adventures.

The sun is shining again here in the Isle of Man, lets hope it stays that way for the weekend. 
I'm looking forward to spending some time with my latest craft purchases.  I've got dies, stamps, papers all mounting up on my desk, and look what Lauren brought over with her when she came last weekend ........

...... these have been sat on my desk ALL WEEK and I haven't had the chance to use them.  Going to have some fun over the next few days, and it's going to get MESSY!

On top of all that, these have arrived ........

I don't really make Halloween cards but I had to have these stamps.  Hmmmm ...... maybe I could start my Timmie tag, that's Halloween themed.  It would make a change from doing it last minute I suppose!
I managed to track down a bottle of the Tattered Angels Glimmer Spray in the Limited Edition Abominable Snowman.  Just had to have this after seeing it on the lovely Redanne's blog.  Anne's used it on a few of her projects and it looks fab.  (between Anne and the fabulous Kath  I don't know who costs me the most money).  I found it on the Country View Crafts website.  What a fab craft store, and free p&p - even to the Isle of Man, and it was quick getting here too. 
So, it looks like my weekend is all sorted - craft, craft and more craft!  Let's hope I have something to share at the end of it!

Something I can share with you today is my first project as part of the Design Team over at Creative Studios
I won't go into all the details on here, but if you want to know how I did it, what I used etc., you can find it all over on the DT Blog.  Fridays are going to be my day for posting on the blog so please pop over and keep me company.

You know me, I don't normally do men's stuff (unless I have too), but this just sort of happened.
The bird is from a set of Christmas stamps, I just wanted to show he (or she) can be used all year round.  As you can see I had to get some Fran-tage on there too!


Well, I think that's me all blogged out for today.  I'm off to make a coffee, sit in front of the TV for an hour and catch up with the lovely Hels Sheridan from earlier in the week on Create and Craft.

Have a lovely weekend, whatever you get up to, and I'll see you all again next week.

Bye for now

Linda

x

It's oh so quiet .....

Hi everyone,
Lauren and Alex flew back home last night so it's very quiet around here this morning.  I didn't get my early morning wake up call that I've been used to for the last few days.  
This morning it's a quick tidy round, load up the washing machine, then it's off to the old craft room for me.  I've quite a bit to catch up on, so I'm going to be in there a while.  I've got  DT stuff to do.  It's my first project for Sam over at Creative Studios, and I haven't quite decided on what to do yet.  Hope the old mojo hasn't decided to take off and have a break. It's to go on the Blog tomorrow!

The craft room hasn't been totally neglected while Alex was here.  We spent a little bit of time in there  the other day.  Alex found a copy of Craft Stamper magazine (start him on with best) which still had the free stamp on the cover.  Of course he wanted the stamp, so Grandma showed him what to do with it.

It didn't take him long to get the hang of things, although I do think he had more ink on his fingers than on the stamp.

We also did a spot of baking that day too.  Alex chose the recipes ........

we made scones and biscuits ......

of course, there's none left, I didn't even get chance for a picture!
Alex even found time to feed the birds with Grandad ......

........ until he spotted the football

Sorry there's no crafty pictures to see again today.  Normal service will resume shortly, I promise.
I do have a post over on the Craftwork Cards Blog today though if you really need a craft fix.  It's the last of my Memory Lane samples, and don't forget the competition is still running.  Just leave me another comment today, to be in with a chance of winning.

I'm going to leave you today with a few pictures from another of the National Glens on the island.  We walked this one yesterday - Ballaglass Glen, halfway between Laxey and Ramsey.

Again, it's a beautiful walk, and even though we didn't have the sunshine yesterday it was still very pretty down there.

 

The river Cornaa rushes like a rapid through the glen, with waterfalls and rock pools along the way.  And of course, we had to get in the middle of it.  There are lots of flat areas, large rocks, where you can stand and get up close and personal with the water.  It didn't take long for both Lauren and Stephen to get down there, and of course Alex had to follow.

what's down there Grandad?

He wasn't too sure about it once he got down there.  The water was moving pretty fast though.

Lauren managed to get hold of the camera, whilst stood in the middle of the river

 and she sneaked a rare photo of me

Well, that's another Glen off the list.  I'm beginning to feel like the IOM tourist board giving all these details of places to go and things to see.  Hope I'm not boring you all.  I know some of you enjoy  reading about the island, thank you for all your lovely comments.  It is a beautiful place to be, most of the time.

Speaking of time ..... it's time I wasn't here.  My craft desk is calling and, I've just heard the postman push something throught the letterbox.  I'm expecting a couple of craft deliveries - maybe it's one of those.
Enjoy you day whatever you're up to and I'll see you all again soon - hopefully with something to share.

Bye for now

Linda

x